Tension before the local elections: Who will be Mönchengladbach's new boss?

Tension before the local elections: Who will be Mönchengladbach's new boss?

Last Sunday, September 14, 2025, elections took place in Mönchengladbach. An exciting day for the citizens who were able to decide on the new balance of power in their city. The round of elections included votes for the mayor, city council representatives and city district representatives. The election was special because it took place in a year in which the federal election took place on February 23rd after the traffic light coalition collapsed. Normally both elections would have been held at the same time, but now the focus was solely on the local elections, as RP Online reports.

All Germans and Union citizens aged 16 and over who have had their main residence in Mönchengladbach for at least 16 days were eligible to vote. The process also included the possibility for homeless people to be registered on the electoral roll upon request; 18 have taken this step via diaconia. There were three ballot papers for voters at the polls: one for the city council (light green), one for the mayoral election (white) and one for the district council (light red). A fourth ballot paper for the Integration Council was only given to certain citizens. Persons with foreign nationality who have lived in Germany for at least one year and have lived in Mönchengladbach for 16 days were eligible to participate.

Election process and options

Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday and closed at 6 p.m. A total of 179 polling stations were available to voters. In order to cast their vote, voters needed, in addition to the election notification, a valid identity card, passport or national passport. If you suddenly became ill, you could apply for a voting slip by 3 p.m. in order to be able to take part in the election. Red ballot papers had to be handed in to the polling station office by 4 p.m. on election day; In addition, voting letters could be dropped off at certain administrative offices until 3 p.m. It is interesting that applications for postal votes increased by ten percent compared to the 2020 local elections; around 39,000 applications were counted.

A notable point is that an absolute majority is required to elect the mayor. If this is not achieved, a runoff election will take place on September 28th. In the history of the city of Mönchengladbach there have only been three runoff elections for the town hall leader since 1975, which makes the upcoming votes all the more exciting.

Political system and elections in Germany

Local elections are a central element of the political system in Germany, which includes the election of parliamentary representatives of municipalities and cities as well as the direct election of (major) mayors. Special regulations apply to local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, which stipulate that the seats in the council are distributed according to the parties' share of the vote. These elections are often closely linked to local issues and differ in voter turnout from state or federal elections, which tend to be higher, as bpb.de explains in more detail.

The legislative period of the city council in Mönchengladbach is currently dated to the end of October, with the last meeting taking place on October 1st. The first meeting of the newly elected city council is scheduled for November 5th. It will be exciting to see how the political situation will develop after this election Sunday.